that is a pretty good pic. Is that your arem or jsut something you used as a description? I am not sure if tha big bubble by the elbow is healthy thoguh...looks kinda bad. As far as what i do, I think it is like a "climber thing" to bend yoru arm at the elbow and try to push all your fingers back towards your elbow. Seems to work for me when my arms get tight

Dead hangs are great too. hangboard or door frame. hang as klong as you can without readjusting your hand position. Then once you get a good hang length try moving to smaller and smaller holds.

Laps are a killer workout.

If you are on the route at the time of the burn? Find a good rest and shake out, straight arm or jam. Also (on mostly crimpy routes), when you are moving to the next hand hold, try straightening your fingers. this pushes blood into your hands, and fuels the tendons. When you are crimped or REALLY holding on hard, everything is constricted and there is less blood flowing to hard working muscles.

I've found that there are a couple of things that help me keep from pumping out.

1. Get a good stretch before even stepping foot to rock, this limbers your muscles up and prepares them for the climb. Don't forget to stretch your legs either, pumping doesn't only occur in your forearms (although, that's the main place).

2. Practice good technique. Good technique (keeping your arms locked out and knees straight as much as possible) will prolong your strength as your skeleton is supporting your weight, not your muscles.

3. Train for endurance. As the others have mentioned, endurance training can greatly reduce fatigue and pumpyness on climbs. I do several laps on a traverse each day to keep the muscles strong so they won't fatigue - traverses are great as you can boulder them alone without tying up a partner in the belay forever.

4. Shake it out. Again, as the others mentioned, take a break during the climb as soon as you feel the pump coming on and shake it out. The longer you wait, the more intense it will become and will eventually render you a quivering mass on the rock if not nipped in the bud early on.

pumpage is the build up of lactic acid in muscles, aka permaflex. After hard workouts your muscles build up lactic acid that makes it feel and look like you are flexing your muscles even when they are relaxed. Happens in any sport that you use a muscle constantly or to the point of exhaustion.

pumpage is a lactic acid and blood build up in the mucsle fibres, a good way to get rid of this is to get some one to massage ur forarms pushing the lactic acid back to liver so it can get broken down. and the blood will disperse it self

I agree with rck_climber. I've found that I get pumped a lot sooner and a lot worse if I didn't stretch properly. But remember not to stretch on "cold" muscles because you can get injured (supposedly, I've never actually seen it, but better safe than sorry).

I start with an easy traverse, then stretch, then climb, and I stretch a lot in between.

Pumpage - AKA muscle cramps. That's what happens b/c of the lactic acid buildup. The reason the lactic acid starts to build up is because your muscle cells have gone into a state of anerobic respiration, where they begin to function without the use of oxygen. For this reason, you should take deep breaths and shake out the muscle in question. This gets more O2 into your system and shaking helps get the circulation going a little better as well.

This is a technique used to de-pump your arms... is quite simple you just have to do the shake with your arms in a up/vertical position (fingers on the top...) this is efficient because uses the gravity to get the blood out of the forearms...

By the way... that horrible pump you get by climbing in cold/unstretched mescles is called "flash pump" and is avoided as described above!

Hang on your skeleton(straight armed), use rests when they present themselves, and above all... stay hydrated. Most people ony drink when they are thirsty, by then it's too late, you blood has already lost a lot of volume. Drink/sip regularly, you'll be suprised at the more endurance you'll get, I was.

More importantly: I have received pumpage on many an occasion, and it can be quite unpleasant, especially if you have any other physical activities planned for the next day (or the next few hours). Pumpage occurs (for myself used as an example, this could not comply with all individuals who climb often) when there has been an excessive amount of strenuous activity (or a great level of strain) upon the muscles of the forearm usually when climbing for a prolonged period of time.

This could happen for many different reasons, as stated before in this forum such as the lactic acid build up, caused by the use of muscle cells without the aid of oxygen. Ways to fight it were also mentioned in the forum: get a good stretch, practice good technique, train for endurance, shake it off. Although, one of the ingredients to fight off pumpage that has worked the best for me in the past is the simplicity of taking a slightly elongated rest between routes/boulder problems etcetera, etcetera.

Most occasions of my going to the gym, have me thinking purely in the thoughts of ways to make this experience last as long as possible (meaning, how to make my bouldering outing, last as long as possible). Before I had learned certain methods of resting, I would come to the gym, and try my best/hardest routes that I could do, and then wait not even five minutes later, and be on another one of my projected goals. This would decrease the level of my performance on the second climb, and definitely decrease the amount of climbing time. Resting is important in between routes not only to avoid pumpage, though to avoid burning out as well. By burning out I mean to loose all of one’s energy at once, without having done most of his scheduled climbing. Resting: essential.

Long routes are some of my favorites, HOWEVER, I felt so wasted after my climb. The thing I felt helped so much is stretching before hand and the key is just practicing technique! I know you've heard this so much but if you focus on using your legs more than your arms you can climb tons longer. Give it a shot and think the entire time to use your legs. See how that does.

I was taught a good tehnique by a mate who does Wing Chun (kung fu). Put one arm straight out to your side, and start making small circles with only your hand. BUT, don't pivot your wrist, keep your wrist straight like the rest of your arm. And do the circles slowly to begin with. Then repeat with the other arm.